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Basically, to me, all you people saying you've got Gary Hart's book are also volunteering to painstakingly type it up and distribute it. Or am I reading your posts wrong?

it'd seem like scanning every page and trying to turn it into a giant PDF file would somehow be a quicker process than typing up the entire book from scratch.

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He died before it was published. Oddly enough, Austin was berating the co-author, Philip Varriale, on the Christopher Daniels podcast saying he needs to get that shit out on Kindle and another print run.

 

I'm with Roman, in that Hart's book is the best wrestling book I've read. I've heard some things since that call into question the validity of some of Gary's statements but it's still awesome. His stories of Jardine alone are worth the price of the book. Inside the ring, Hart made him sound like the Undertaker before the Undertaker was a thing (rope walk, super agile big man with a tough as nails persona) and outside the ring... let's just say you made sure you were on Don Jardine's good side.

 

 

 

Basically, to me, all you people saying you've got Gary Hart's book are also volunteering to painstakingly type it up and distribute it. Or am I reading your posts wrong?

 

I could scan some chapters at work. They're all pretty short. I'd post the index, but I don't have a scanner at home and I'm not in the mood to type up 63 chapter titles.

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Picked up Arn's book from just after he retired. At first, the fact that he kept kayfabe throughout was a bit disconcerting, but once you get used to it, you can see he's still telling you the real story, too. It's pretty clever how he puts it there for folks to read between the lines. ***1/2

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I had forgotten that Jardine trained 'Taker. It certainly shows.

 

 

He died before it was published. Oddly enough, Austin was berating the co-author, Philip Varriale, on the Christopher Daniels podcast saying he needs to get that shit out on Kindle and another print run.

 

I'm with Roman, in that Hart's book is the best wrestling book I've read. I've heard some things since that call into question the validity of some of Gary's statements but it's still awesome. His stories of Jardine alone are worth the price of the book. Inside the ring, Hart made him sound like the Undertaker before the Undertaker was a thing (rope walk, super agile big man with a tough as nails persona) and outside the ring... let's just say you made sure you were on Don Jardine's good side.

 

 

 

Basically, to me, all you people saying you've got Gary Hart's book are also volunteering to painstakingly type it up and distribute it. Or am I reading your posts wrong?

 

I could scan some chapters at work. They're all pretty short. I'd post the index, but I don't have a scanner at home and I'm not in the mood to type up 63 chapter titles.

 

The Australia story is the one that is etched into my mind.

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Because there hasn't been a decent wrestling book released in months, I'm re-reading Jericho's first book.

I forgot how much he talked about the other wrestlers, my favorite being about Hardbody Harrison:

"He was constantly submitting weird angles and stories to the office, trying to get himself a push. First he came up with the idea of painting his face and becoming Sting's black nemesis, Stang." (P. 330)

Don't forget about DDP carrying around a giant diamond that he (Harrison) would steal and put in a giant shark tank and DDP would have to fight him on ppv to get it back.

Why didn't anybody ever hire Hardbody Harrison as a booker? The man is obviously a creative genius.

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Picked up Arn's book from just after he retired. At first, the fact that he kept kayfabe throughout was a bit disconcerting, but once you get used to it, you can see he's still telling you the real story, too. It's pretty clever how he puts it there for folks to read between the lines. ***1/2

 

This actually sounds quite interesting, I love Arn on the WWE Four Horseman doc, he never once broke kayfabe but this made him the perfect talking head to be a narrator and it made him come off like even more of a bad ass (which is quite the impressive feat)

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So Shawn goes on to the pile of wrestlers with multiple autobiographies.

 

His first book is so weird.  He repeatedly admits openly that he was a total asshole, but then every single story in there about personal conflicts with other people backstage, he makes it very clear he wasn't at fault.

 

(Plus, he denies the entire "Undertaker threatened to murder him if he didn't put Austin over" story that even Taker himself has confirmed.)

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I'm about 70% through JJ Dillon's book and it's really good. Actually doesn't talk much about his time with the Horsemen as it's really heavy on his earlier career as a wrestler. There are some interesting stories about his time working in the offices and booking JCP/WWF/WCW.

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(Plus, he denies the entire "Undertaker threatened to murder him if he didn't put Austin over" story that even Taker himself has confirmed.)

 

Did he though? If you're referring to that OTR episode, he kind of answers the question without answering anything. 

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I've been thinking recently about how I'd like to read more about the history of pro wrestling up until the 80s or so, regardless of what country or territory the book covers. I'm not so interested in autobiographies right now though. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

Even though it's an autobiography, Lou Thesz talks a lot about the history of the business and how things were done in the 20's-60's.

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I've been thinking recently about how I'd like to read more about the history of pro wrestling up until the 80s or so, regardless of what country or territory the book covers. I'm not so interested in autobiographies right now though. Anyone have any recommendations?

I haven't read them for a while but Pride and Passion:Stampede Wrestling, and Stu Hart: Lord of the Ring, are good companion pieces in going through the history of Stampede Wrestling.

I also liked Sex Lies and Headlocks as something on the overall US scene post WWII but again haven't read that for ages so not sure if it hold up.

Also loved The Wrestling by Simon Garfield as a great look at WOS British scene...

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I'm about 70% through JJ Dillon's book and it's really good. Actually doesn't talk much about his time with the Horsemen as it's really heavy on his earlier career as a wrestler. There are some interesting stories about his time working in the offices and booking JCP/WWF/WCW.

 

Could you please let me know how wrestlers are like seagulls?  I often wonder it but am too cheap or lazy to read the book.

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I've been thinking recently about how I'd like to read more about the history of pro wrestling up until the 80s or so, regardless of what country or territory the book covers. I'm not so interested in autobiographies right now though. Anyone have any recommendations?

The history of the NWA book, definitely.

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I've been thinking recently about how I'd like to read more about the history of pro wrestling up until the 80s or so, regardless of what country or territory the book covers. I'm not so interested in autobiographies right now though. Anyone have any recommendations?

The history of the NWA book, definitely.

 

 

The one that takes the stance that the NWA was a monopoly/cartel? Other then some grammatical and continuity issues, it's a good read indeed.

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